How do you grind raw bones?

I am doing some research into the whole raw/home-cooked options and was wondering if you were going to prepare you own patties (kindof like the raw ones you buy ready made)--how you would grind your own bones down to smaller pieces. I like the idea of raw but I want the dogs to be able to eat someone quickley and non-messy and also Honey is so small (6 lbs and a mouth much smaller than any Chi I have seen)--I can't imagine any way she could eat larger bone segments--

Are bones really necessary? I know that they are great for teeth and breath and they also add calcium and other vitamins but could that be replaced with a supplement so as to go boneless?

I never knew trying to figure this all out would be such a daunting tasK!

I was looking into grinders at one point. Something that can grind chicken bones reliable is VERY expensive. Most makers will not support grinding any kinds of bones.

Don't think your little girl couldn't eat a bone. Chicken wings are small and have thinner bones in them. I wouldn't have thought our pug could crack the bones he does, but he works right through them.

You have to get a GOOD meat grinder. A lot of people do it for cat food too. I often throw chicken necks for my cats to gnaw on. One won't touch them, the other just eats the meat and fat and the other one will gnaw on them and eventually it disappears so I would have to grind if my cats went raw. Honestly, the best person to talk to about that sort of thing is Mordy because she has had a couple grinders and done a lot of research on them.

Bone is very critical for calcium but if you don't want to handle it I think you can buy a calcium powder or grind egg shells. Definitely talk to mordy because it involves more minerals than just calcium and you want to make sure things are balanced.

Thanks for the info. DanL--she maybe could but I'm guessing it would take her at least 24 hours to eat a chicken wing. It takes her 30 seconds to eat a piece of kibble! So currently she is fed closed in her crate as Wrigley is a chow hound and will eat anything he possibly can ASAP! I just can't imagine putting a chicken wing in her crate and leaving it there to make a mess for two days--therefore having to wash and disinfect the crate every day and having to wash her any time she would be out of her crate--sounds like a mess to me. Her mouth is very small--much smaller than a pugs.

Saje-I am considering doing a consult already and have emailed over some questions. I understand the nutritional importance and thought that grinding may be a solution. I would also think that there is probably somewhere you can buy ground bones pre done--I'll have to see if I can find anywhere.....

You don't have to buy an expensive grinder to grind bones. Using my very reasonably priced Northern Tools grinder, I grind up large quantities of chicken quarters (drumstick, thigh, backbone) and freeze in baggies/containers to feed for breakfast meals. I feed large whole chunks of boneless beef or pork for dinner which require some chewing (clean teeth).

Foxy--how long does it take them--does it make much of a mess--how do you clean up after them? Is your 3 pounder a 'chow hound' like my Wrigley is--eating quickley and ravenously--or more of a slow/takes me a all day to eat a bowl eater? I am interested.

What you do is give a certain amount of time to eat. She'll get the message when you give her 30 minutes and she's not done and you take it away and give it back the next day. My GSD is a slow eater. The kind who takes 10 minutes to eat a cheerio. It normally takes him 15-20 minutes to eat his dinner and if he has something that is real bony, like a rack of ribs or a deer leg, that can take him an hour. I wouldn't say just throw the wing in there and let her have at it, but watch her closely. If she is just playing around, take it away. Gunnar will do that, get to a point where he's done, but he will stay there and guard it so the others don't take it. At at that point, I remove it and he gets it the next day. A dog won't starve itself. Sometimes they can be stubborn but when they get hungry and they have a choice of eating something or starving, they will eat.

I'm sure her mouth is smaller than a pugs, but my point was, the pug is eating things much larger than a wing- he can eat a leg quarter. I won't even give him a wing, he'd get it turned longways and swallow it whole!

Dodger my 3lbs boy is in no way a chow hound, hes free fed dry kibble when it comes down to it, he eats very leisurley, infact hes i the negative calories most of the time because he'll take a single peice and play with it for 15 minutes before eating it...it takes him about 20 minutes or so just to decide to eat a single bite of kibble.

when the fresh comes out though, at first he wouldnt have anything to do with it. it took him 2 or 3 days of just licking to get the idea that mmm this is good, i give them wings occasionally as a snack.
nowerdays i give each of the chihuahuas a wing and each goes to their individual corners (the wings arnt messy) but if youve got a chow hound removing the blankets from their crate and crating them while they eat is easy and if they make a mess a quick whipe down of the tray and your clean)

it takes dodger about 1/2 hour to get through his but he eats at a very leasury pace. Rosie whos almost 5 lbs the entire thing is gone in 15 minutes, and vixie is about 20 minutes, but again their all used to eating at a leasurly pace so their meat is no different.
they all do get a little resource guardy when they have their fresh chicken treat though!